Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Shock Waves - Astrophysics

In course

ME-343: Compressible-fluid dynamics

Fluides compressibles, vitesse sonique, ondes de choc, détente. ...

Description

This lecture discusses the origin of cosmic rays and the detection of pion-decay signatures in supernova remnants. It covers topics such as Tycho's Supernova Remnant, Fermi observations, and gamma rays from electrons and protons.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructor

Flavio Noca

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Supernova remnant

A supernova remnant (SNR) is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar material it sweeps up and shocks along the way. There are two common routes to a supernova: either a massive star may run out of fuel, ceasing to generate fusion energy in its core, and collapsing inward under the force of its own gravity to form a neutron star or a black hole; or a white dwarf star may accrete material from a companion star until it reaches a critical mass and undergoes a thermonuclear explosion.

Pion

In particle physics, a pion (or a pi meson, denoted with the Greek letter pi: _Pion) is any of three subatomic particles: _Pion0, _Pion+, and _Pion-. Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the lightest mesons and, more generally, the lightest hadrons. They are unstable, with the charged pions _Pion+ and _Pion- decaying after a mean lifetime of 26.033 nanoseconds (2.6033e-8 seconds), and the neutral pion _Pion0 decaying after a much shorter lifetime of 85 attoseconds (8.

Supernova

A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or black hole, or is completely destroyed to form a diffuse nebula. The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be comparable to that of an entire galaxy before fading over several weeks or months.

Particle decay

In particle physics, particle decay is the spontaneous process of one unstable subatomic particle transforming into multiple other particles. The particles created in this process (the final state) must each be less massive than the original, although the total invariant mass of the system must be conserved. A particle is unstable if there is at least one allowed final state that it can decay into. Unstable particles will often have multiple ways of decaying, each with its own associated probability.

Proton decay

In particle physics, proton decay is a hypothetical form of particle decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, such as a neutral pion and a positron. The proton decay hypothesis was first formulated by Andrei Sakharov in 1967. Despite significant experimental effort, proton decay has never been observed. If it does decay via a positron, the proton's half-life is constrained to be at least 1.67e34 years.

Related lectures (32)

Astroparticle Physics: Neutron Stars and Cosmic Rays

Explores neutron stars, supernova explosions, and their role in cosmic ray production.

Origin of the Nuclides

Explores the origin of radionuclides from supernova explosions and their role in nature, covering topics such as nuclear astrophysics, cosmic element formation, and stellar evolution.

Astroparticle Physics: Dark Matter and Neutron Stars

Covers dark matter detection challenges and the evolution of massive stars into neutron stars.

Optical Transients: Supernovae and Tidal Disruption Events

Explores supernovae, their classification, energetics, and origins, as well as tidal disruption events, fast radio bursts, and gamma-ray bursts.

CKM Matrix Elements